Florence Nightingale
Someone who has impacted the world… “I stand at the altar of the murdered men and while I live I shall fight their cause.” These words, spoken by Florence Nightingale, very neatly sum up her life`s ambitions. She was born on May 12, 1820, into a family of “new money” which was trying to fit in with Victorian society, where working was considered undignified and women were supposed to be frail. Florence went against these rules and went on to seek a career in nursing, despite her family's disapproval. Up to that time nurses had mostly been religious, monastic women or untrained helpers of low repute. Nonetheless, she perceived a calling, and chose to rebel against the traditional woman's role as a wife and mother. Rebelling against tradition, Florence choose to become a nurse which led her to impact the world by improving health care provided to patients, finding the Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital, and contributing to heath related issues. To begin with, Florence Nightingale impacted the world by improving health care provided to patients. When the Crimean War broke out in 1854, Florence was invited to serve as a nurse in Scutari, Turkey which was away from the fighting but near enough to bring soldiers for medical care. She rounded up thirty-eight respectable nurses and set sail for Turkey. When they arrived at the hospital, they were shocked by the horrible conditions they found. Lacking furniture, many men were lying on the filthy floor. Food and water were scarce and rats, mice, and insects had free range of the hospital. After Florence convinced the doctors to let her help she and her set to work scrubbing the hospital, making mattresses, buying supplies, and tending to the soldiers. In the Scutari hospital, the death rate had dropped from forty-two percent to only two percent. Florence received praise and gifts from the monarchs in both Great Britain and Turkey. She had saved many lives in Turkey, but she